CHS Volleyball falls to Christopher in solo match of the week
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester High School Lady Yellow Jackets Volleyball Team had a rare, one-match schedule last week hosting only Christopher Monday Oct. 4. The JV managed to win their match, 25-23, 19-25 and 18-16 while the Varsity managed to lose their three-game series, 28-26, 23-25 and 28-26.
As has been the case most of this season there was no freshman match, so the rookies spent most of the night helping the JV and Varsity to warm up, shagging balls, assisting with equipment and cheering on the side lines. Most teams that CHS played this season did not field freshman teams, so that story has played out throughout most of this 2010 season.
The JV match started at 6:15 p.m. in grand fashion with the JV breezing through the competition. The Jackets made quick work of Christopher winning in almost record time, 25-13. Most fans were of the opinion that the evening was going to quick and easy and that the night would come to a quick termination. Chester could do nothing wrong and Christopher had Chester fans almost feeling sorry for them as they could do nothing right.
Then, much like a schizophrenic patient, the personality of the Jackets suddenly changed. The Jackets began the second game smoothly, taking an early lead. All of a sudden the JV could do nothing right. Christopher, on the other hand, found new confidence and suddenly could do nothing wrong. The tide quickly changed and Christopher ended up winning the second game, 25-19.
Jacket fans and players alike seemed confused and somewhat even disgruntled as the third, tie-breaking game was neck-and-neck throughout. Leads changed continuously and it appeared as if perhaps CHS would let yet another one slip away. The Jackets would prevail in the end, however, slipping by with a two-point victory, 18-16. With the tie-breaking win Chester won the match and saved face with the Black Diamond victory.
For the night sophomores Chelsea Schroeder and Jena Tressler came up big in the points department with nine and seven points respectively. Schroeder added three aces, a kill and one dig to her statistics page while Tressler recorded four aces, an assist, four kills and one dig to her stat sheet.
Other contributors included Michaelyn Modglin who added an assist, two kills, one block and one dig; Allie Schmerbauch recorded two points, four assists and four digs while Marah Laramore contributed an assist, a pair of kills, one block and two digs.
Dani Horman came up with two points and two digs and Taylor Gross kicked in three points, two kills and three digs. Raelyn Rosendohl had two points, two kills and three digs in the win while Tawnee Keel earned a point and a dig. Rounding out the statistics for CHS was Dani Homan who contributed four points, five assists and six digs.
The victory was a real team-effort. With the victory the JV improved to 3-7 overall for the 2010 season.
Just looking at the final scores the Varsity games appeared to be close and exciting. The opposite was the case as the elder Jackets gave up what should have been another BDC victory. The story was much like the JV series, but unfortunately the Varsity ended up losing their series, thusly the match.
The varsity jumped out to an early, significant lead much like the JV did, then struggled down the stretch. In game #1 Chester did win, 28-26, but it wasn't always pretty and most Jacket fans were experiencing déjà vu as it seemed as if the game might be lost at any turn.
In the second game the Varsity girls had difficulty creating a flow and consistency was hard to find. When things went south late in the game conditions never would improve and Chester lost that effort significantly, 19-25.
The Jackets were given one last chance to redeem themselves with a third, tie-breaking game. From the beginning Christopher seemed to have momentum, confidence even crowd support from their meager-sized fan base.
The score did teeter-tot back and forth throughout, but it was quite apparent from the onset that the Lady Jackets were struggling to create a flow. Little seemed to go right for CHS and this time in the end, Chester was on the losing end of the score losing, 18-16.
Senior Jordan Clendenin had another good night for the Jackets leading the scoring category with eight points, one of which was an ace. Clendenin also added a pair of digs and three kills.
Shelly Lyons came up with six points, one of which was an ace and six nice digs prior to falling hard on her knee and having to come out of the game for the remainder of the match.
Taylor Crum added six points (1 ace) eight assists and a trio of digs while Sydney Haberberger contributed four points (2 aces) and one dig. Megan Marcinkowska also contributed four points (1 ace) and a pair of digs for CHS.
Tiffani Marshall came up with one dig and three kills and Shelby Long added one kill and four digs. Rounding out the Yellow Jackets contributions were Taylor Marks (1 point & 1 dig), Britney Schroeder (1 dig), Dani Homan (1 assist) and Ashley Andrews (1 kill).
With the loss the Varsity Jackets fell to 6-12 overall and 2-4 in the Black Diamond Conference race. Coach Karen Bert commented after the game, "I'm very disappointed in how we played tonight. It is very frustrating for everyone."